Report: Liquor board may have improperly paid official nearly $30,000

The state Liquor Authority's top enforcer may have been improperly paid nearly $30,000 for travel expenses from his home in Jamesville to the agency's headquarters in Albany over two years, a state report said this week.

Daniel Malay, a former Syracuse police detective, worked 247 days in Albany between May 2006 and March of this year in his job as the Liquor Authority's director of enforcement, according a report by the state Inspector General's Office. He was reimbursed $28,337, most of which was for hotel expenses, according to the report.

The amount doesn't include gasoline expenses because Malay was driving a state car, said Kate Gurnett, a spokeswoman for the Inspector General's Office.

Investigators found that Malay's job was mainly in Albany and he should bear the costs of getting to work. Taxpayers should not have paid for his hotel in Albany, just so he could keep his Jamesville house, the IG ruled.

The report recommends that the state Comptroller's Office review Malay's expenses to determine whether he should repay the money.

Malay was hired in 2006 as head of enforcement for the Syracuse and Buffalo offices by another former Syracuse police officer, Daniel Boyle, who is the chairman of the Liquor Authority. Boyle is a former deputy police chief in Syracuse.